Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a showerhead and a multi-waterway switching mechanism in the field of shower installations, in particular to an inductive showerhead which adopts the multi-waterway switching mechanism.
Related Art
The showerhead is referred to the spray head used for showering, and can generally be classified into three types according to different usage: 1) handheld showerhead: the showerhead can be held in hand to shower freely, and the showerhead support boasts the fixation function; 2) overhead showerhead: the showerhead head is fixed at the overhead position, and the support is embedded into the wall, so the descending function is not provided; however, the showerhead head is provided with a small movable ball used for adjusting the water-discharging angle, and the angle for upward and downward movements is relatively flexible; 3) postural showerhead; the showerhead is concealed in the wall to spray the body in a sideway manner, and various installation positions and water-spraying angles are available, so that the cleaning and massaging function can be achieved.
The structure of the showerhead generally comprises an outer shell provided with a water inlet and a water outlet. The water outlet on the outer shell is fixedly connected with a water-discharging panel. Multiple water outlet holes are evenly distributed in the water-discharging panel. Water flows into the water inlet of the showerhead, and then flows out from the water outlet holes in the water-discharging panel. In order to achieve various water-discharging functions on the showerhead, the water outlet holes in the water-discharging panel are divided into multiple groups in prior art showerheads. Each group is consisted of multiple water outlet holes. When a specific water-discharging function needs to be achieved, the waterway in the showerhead can be switched by operating a switching handle at one side of the showerhead, so that the corresponding group of the water outlet holes are communicated with the water inlet and water is discharged. At this moment, water does not flow out of the other groups of the water outlet holes. If the water-discharging function needs to be switched, then it can be achieved by flipping the switching handle once again. However, the waterway-switching methods of the prior art showerheads is inconvenient to operate, especially when the handle is difficult to reach due to the fact that the installation position of the handle is either too high or too low, or when sometimes the user can not open his or her eyes after applying soap.
In response to this circumstance, some people in the field of shower installations have also adopted the inductive control method to switch the way how water is discharged, but the problems that the structure is complex and the reliability is poor still remain.